NMC proposes 10 year limit to complete MBBS course
New Delhi: The undergraduate medical students must complete the MBBS course, along with the mandatory one-year internship within 10 years of joining the MBBS course, the National Medical Commission (NMC) has proposed.
In a Gazette notification dated 18.05.2026, NMC Secretary Dr. Raghav Langer issued the draft regulations to amend the Graduate Medical Education Regulations 2023.
As per the notification, NMC has proposed that under the new regulations called "Graduate Medical Education (Amendment) Regulations, 2026", MBBS students will get 10 years to complete the MBBS course and internship. These new regulations are proposed to substitute clause 21 of "Chapter V: Competency Based Dynamic Curriculum at Under Graduate Level" under the Graduate Medical Education Regulations 2023.
Under GMER 2023, MBBS students used to get our (04) attempts for first year (First Professional MBBS) and nine years from the date of admission to complete the course.
Now, as per the draft regulations, even though the Apex Medical Commission has proposed that the students will get 10 years to complete the MBBS course and internship, it has kept the maximum limit to clear the first year examination same i.e. four attempts.
Also Read:Altogether 4 Attempts to Clear MBBS 1st prof Exams: NMC GMER 2023
"In exercise of overall powers conferred by the National Medical Commission Act, 2019 vis-à-vis medical education in general and specifically by sub-section (1) of section 24; and sub-section (h), (i), (j), (k), (o), (p), (q), (r), (s) of sub-section (2) of section 57 of the said Act, the National Medical Commission hereby makes the following draft Regulations to amend the “Graduate Medical Education Regulations 2023”," mentioned the Gazette notification.
"These Regulations may be called the “Graduate Medical Education (Amendment) Regulations, 2026”," it added. "They shall come into force from the date of their publication in the Official Gazette," the notification further mentioned.
As per the Draft Regulations, the following change has been proposed:
In the “Graduate Medical Education Regulations”, 2023, in the proviso to clause 21 of CHAPTER V: COMPETENCY BASED DYNAMIC CURRICULUM AT UNDER GRADUATE LEVEL:
’Provided under no circumstances the student shall be allowed more than four (04) attempts for first year (First Professional MBBS) and no student shall be allowed to continue undergraduate medical course after nine (09) years from the date of admission into the course’
Shall be substituted as under:
'Provided under no circumstances the student shall be allowed more than four (04) attempts for first year (First Professional MBBS) and no student shall be allowed to continue undergraduate medical course after ten (10) year of joining the first MBBS course (including continuous rotatory medical internship)’.
Inviting objections and comments to the draft, NMC said, "The National Medical Commission proposes certain amendment to “Graduate Medical Education Regulations, 2023. The draft regulation amending the regulation in the proviso to clause 21 of chapter V has been prepared and approved by the competent authority following due procedure and is hereby published for information of all stakeholders likely to be affected thereby and notice is hereby given that the said draft Regulation (amendment) shall be taken into consideration on or after the expiry of a period of thirty (30) days from the date on which the copies of the Gazette of India containing these draft Regulation (amendment) are made available to public."
"Objections and suggestions which may be received from any person within the period specified above will be considered by National Medical Commission," it added.
NMC added that objections and suggestions, if any, may be addressed to the Deputy Secretary (UGMEB), NMC, Room No. 106, Cabin No. 127 B, National Medical Commission, Pocket-14, Sector-8, Dwarka, Phase-1, New Delhi-77 and sent by email at (ug_gmer_amend_2026@nmc.org.in) in the prescribed format attached.
"The objections and suggestions be sent only on the above e-mail ID and the objections/suggestions received in any other means i.e physical or through other modes will not be entertained. The draft notification will be available on National Medical Commission’s website," it added.
Medical Dialogues had earlier reported that setting a limit regarding the number of attempts to clear the MBBS examination, NMC had clarified in GMER 2023, "Provided under no circumstances the student shall be allowed more than four (04) attempts for first year (First Professional MBBS) and no student shall be allowed to continue undergraduate medical course after nine (09) years from the date of admission into the course, mentioned the Regulations."
Back in 2023, the Apex Medical Commission granted one extra attempt to the MBBS batches of 2019 and 2020 to qualify for their first professional exam. NMC took this decision because these batches were affected by COVID.
Recently, the Department-related Parliamentary Committee on Health and Family Welfare in its 172nd report pointed out that permitting students only four attempts to clear the MBBS first professional examination can be overly stringent for many students adjusting to the demanding nature of medical education. Therefore, the panel suggested increasing the permissible limit to six attempts.
However, the panel has opined that the students must complete the entire MBBS course within a maximum period of ten years from the date of admission.
